Elective Courses
A central feature of the Berkeley MBA program is its level of flexibility that enables you to customize your studies according to your own goals. An impressive menu of original elective courses comprises 60 percent of the curriculum, meaning you begin to customize your own course of study in the first year of the program. You may choose from a wide variety of constantly evolving electives and dual degree offerings—from within the Haas School and from the wider university—as well as design courses of your own in conjunction with a faculty member. Last year students created courses such as Enterprise in Developing Economics and Managing Internet and Digital Media Products, as well as speaker series on the topics of education leadership and renewable energy.
A survey of the main ideas and techniques of game-theoretic analysis related to bargaining, conflict, and negotiation. Emphasizes the identification and analysis of archetypal strategic situations in bargaining. Goals of the course are to provide a foundation for applying game-theoretic analysis, both formally and intuitively, to negotiation and bargaining; to recognize and assess archetypal strategic situations in complicated negotiation settings; and to feel comfortable in the process of negotiation. Three hours of lecture per week.
Business strategy and public issues in energy and environmental markets. Topics include development and effect of organized spot, futures, and derivative energy markets; political economy of regulation and deregulation; climate change and environmental policies related to energy production and use; cartels, market power and competition policy; pricing of exhaustible resources; competitiveness of alternative energy sources; and transportation and storage of energy commodities. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course helps students to study the institutions of emerging markets that are relevant for managers, analyze opportunities presented by emerging markets, analyze the additional ethical challenges and issues of social responsibility common in emerging markets, and learn to minimize the risks in doing business in emerging markets. This course is a combination of lectures, class participation, and cases. Three hours of lecture per week.
The course focuses on determinants of global trade flows, patterns of international competition, and governmental policies affecting international trade. Topics include: tariff and nontariff barriers to trade, industrial policies in declining and emerging industries, strategic trade policy, United States trade law, bilateral and multilateral approaches to trade liberalization, and current issues in international trade policy. Three hours of lecture per week.
Examines optimal production and pricing policies for firms in competitive environments; optimal strategies through time; strategies in the presence of imperfect information. How differing market structures and government policies (including taxation) affect output and pricing decisions. Social welfare implications of decisions by competitive firms also explored. Three hours of lecture per week.
Business success depends upon strategy, structure, and incentives. The focus here is on using insights from economics to develop structure, tactics, and incentives to achieve the firm's goals. Competitive advantage is achieved through the management of the firm's resources, as well as those of upstream suppliers, network and alliance partners, and downstream distributors. A major focus of this course is the design and operation of incentive and performance management systems both within the firm and in external contracts. Three and a half hours of lecture per week.
Issues of accounting information evaluation with special emphasis on the use of financial statements by decision makers external to the firm. The implications of recent research in finance and accounting for external reporting issues will be explored. Emphasis will be placed on models that describe the user's decision context. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course examines the theory and practice of financial accounting and the issues involved in determining corporate financial reporting policies. It provides an in-depth knowledge of how financial statements are prepared but emphasizes the evaluation of accounting reports from a managerial perspective. Cases supplement lecture, discussion, and problem solving. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course emphasizes the use of accounting information throughout the planning, operation and control stages of managing an organization. The course is divided into three sections to reflect these three stages of management: 1) information for planning and decision making; 2) information received during operations (cost accounting); and 3) information for control and performance evaluation. Three hours of lecture and one hour of optional discussion per week.
This course will cover various topics in personal or corporate taxation or both. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course will study the principles underlying alternative financial arrangements and contracts and their application to corporate financial management. In particular, it will examine the impact of incentive, moral hazard, and principal-agent problems that arise as a consequence of asymmetric information, government intervention, managerial incentives and taxes, on financial decisions regarding capital budgeting, dividend policy, capital structure and mergers. Three hours of lecture and one hour of optional discussion per week.
This course will analyze the role of financial markets and financial institutions in allocating capital. The major focus will be on debt contracts and securities and on innovations in the bond and money markets. The functions of commercial banks, investment banks, and other financial intermediaries will be covered, and aspects of the regulation of these institutions will be examined. Three hours of lecture and one hour of optional discussion per week.
This course will examine four different types of asset markets: equity markets, fixed income markets, futures markets and options markets. It will focus on the valuation of assets in these markets, the empirical evidence on asset valuation models, and strategies that can be employed to achieve various investment goals. Three hours of lecture and one hour of optional discussion per week.
Normative models of financial decisions by business firms, financial regulation and the business firm, and empirical studies in business finance. Three hours of lecture and one hour of optional discussion per week. Two hours of lecture per week.
Normative issues in financial institutions, regulation of financial institutions, the analysis of money and capital markets, and empirical studies on financial institutions and financial markets. Topics to be covered will vary. Two hours of lecture per week.
Normative models for investment management, valuation of securities, behavior of security prices, the function and regulation of security markets, and empirical studies on securities prices and portfolio behavior. Topics covered will vary. Two hours of lecture per week.
Introduction to alternative investment strategies and styles as practiced by leading money managers. A money manager will spend approximately half of the class discussing his general investment philosophy. In the other half, students, practitioner, and instructor will explore the investment merits of one particular company. Students will be expected to use the library's resources, class handouts, and their ingenuity to address a set of questions relating to the firm's investment value. Two hours of lecture per week.
The premise of this course is that spreadsheet financial models are often too big and too complicated to be helpful to real people in real-world organizations. This course focuses on designing spreadsheet financial models that work because they are small (i.e., fit easily on one or two laptop screens), simple (i.e., involve only basic arithmetic), easy to understand (i.e., a non-MBA can follow the thinking shown with no struggle and no assistance), and fast to build (i.e., in an hour or two, once you get the hang of it). Two hours of lecture per week.
This class will focus on leveraged buyouts (LBOs), a component of the larger private equity industry, and will offer an introduction and overview to all aspects of leveraged buyouts. Covers all activities performed by investment professionals in an LBO fund, such as deal sourcing, transaction structure, financing, legal negotiation, and portfolio management; private equity fund structure and current issues in private equity.
The course begins with a discussion of the "Winner's Curse," speculative bubbles, and IPOs. A discussion of limits to arbitrage, the relative mispricing of common stocks, and the tendency of individual investors to trade in a highly correlated fashion. Addresses heuristic and biases identified by behavioral decision theorists and how these affect investor behavior. Topics include overconfidence, attribution theory, the representative heuristic, the availability heuristic, anchoring and adjustment, fairness, hindsight bias, and prospect theory. Examines a number of market anomalies including post earnings announcement drift, the equity premium puzzle, momentum, and behavioral theories of momentum. Four hours of lecture per week.
This course provides a comprehensive description and analysis of modern risk management, including organizational issues, regulatory aspects, potential problem areas, and tools to control and manage firm-wide risk with particular emphasis on market, credit, and operational risk. Introduces the foundation for creating an integrated, consistent, and effective risk management strategy. Provides an inside look at many aspects of financial risk management covering policies, methodologies and infrastructure.
Survey of the formulation, solution, and interpretation of mathematical models to assist management of risk. Emphasis on applications from diverse businesses and industries, including inventory management, product distribution, portfolio optimization, portfolio insurance, and yield management. Two types of models are covered: optimization and simulation. Associated with each model type is a piece of software: Excel's Solver for optimization and Excel add-in Crystal Ball for simulation. Two hours of lecture per week.
The course considers two techniques for guiding a managerial decision maker who has to make a choice now but will only know later whether the choice was good. Decision analysis helps if the outcome of the choice depends on "nature"; game models help if the outcome depends on human opponents (e.g., competitors). Foundations of the two techniques, and a variety of applications, are studied. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course is intended for students who wish to gain better understanding of one of the most important issues facing management today--designing, implementing, and managing telecommunication and distributed computer systems. The following topics are covered: a survey of networking technologies; the selection, design and management of telecommunication systems; strategies for distributed data processing; office automation; and management of personal computers in organizations. Three hours of lecture per week.
A study of the problems and techniques associated with managing the personnel function. Topics include the processes of recruitment, selection, placement, training, and evaluation of people within organizations. The role of the staff manager with respect to the planning, design, and allocation of tasks and people is considered, with emphasis on the implications of research for management problems and policies. Three hours of lecture per week.
A study of the negotiations process, including negotiations among buyers and sellers, managers and subordinates, company units, companies and organizational agencies, and management and labor. Both two-party and multi-party relations are covered. Course work includes reading, lectures, discussion of case material, and simulations of real negotiations. Emphasis on the role of third parties in resolving disputes. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course addresses the art and science of influence in organizations. Organizations are fundamentally political entities, and power and influence are key mechanisms by which things get done. After taking this course, students are able to:
- diagnose the true distribution of power in organizations,
- identify strategies for building sources of power,
- develop techniques for influencing other,
- understand the role of power in building cooperation and leading change. Two hours of lecture per week.
Examines current models of strategy, structure, process interaction, and their historical foundations. Students will apply current theory to traditional cases and to current examples of organization adaptation in the business press. In addition, the course will examine in detail emerging patterns of strategy, structure, and process--the beginnings of what appear to be "new" organizational forms. Finally, comparisons will be drawn between US and foreign patterns of adaptation. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course addresses practical skills for global managers. It examines common issues and best practices for managing a global workforce as well as relations with important customers and partners. Managers with keen strategic insights often fall short when it comes to practical implementation because they lack the skills required to interface effectively with their counterparts from around the world. Generic cross-border management issues are discussed and then applied to specific skill areas, including establishing credibility, building relationships, obtaining information, evaluating people, giving and receiving feedback, training and development, meeting management, motivation, persuasion, sales and marketing, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Beyond such person-to-person skills, global organization development and consulting skill areas such as multicultural team building, technology transfer, innovation, and change management are also covered. Geographical examples are drawn from Asia, Europe, Latin America, Russia, and the Middle East. Three-and-a-half hours of lecture per week.
Examines concepts and theories from behavioral science useful for the understanding and prediction of market place behavior and demand analysis. Emphasizes applications to the development of marketing policy planning and strategy and to various decision areas within marketing. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course develops the skills necessary to plan and implement an effective market research study. Topics include research design, psychological measurement, survey methods, experimentation, statistical analysis of marketing data, and effective reporting of technical material to management. Students select a client and prepare a market research study during the course. Course intended for students with substantive interests in marketing. Three hours of lecture per week.
The focus of this course is on developing student skills to formulate and critique complete marketing programs including product, price, distribution and promotion policies. There is a heavy use of case analysis. Course is primarily designed for those who will take a limited number of advanced marketing courses and wish an integrated approach. Three hours of lecture per week.
Information technology has allowed firms to gather and process large quantities of information about consumers' choices and reactions to marketing campaigns. However, few firms have the expertise to intelligently act on such information. This course addresses this shortcoming by teaching students how to use customer information to better market to consumers. In addition, the course addresses how information technology affects marketing strategy. Three hours of lecture per week.
High technology refers to that class of products and services which is subject to technological change at a pace significantly faster than for most goods in the economy. Under such circumstances, the marketing task faced by the high technology firm differs in some ways from the usual. The purpose of this course is to explore these differences. Three hours of lecture per week.
A specialized course in advertising, focusing on management and decision-making. Topics include objective-setting, copy decisions, media decisions, budgeting, and examination of theories, models, and other research methods appropriate to these decision areas. Other topics include social/economic issues of advertising by nonprofit organizations. Two hours of lecture per week.
The success of any marketing program often weighs heavily upon its co-execution by members of the firm's distribution channel. This course seeks to provide an understanding of how the strategic and tactical roles of the channel can be identified and managed. This is accomplished, first, through studying the broad economic and social forces which govern the channel evolution. It is completed through the examination of tools to select, manage and motivate channel partners. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course will cover a wide variety of topics relating to the management of international marketing strategy, including frameworks for developing international marketing strategy; sources and sustainability of competitive advantage; international market structure analysis; market entry strategy; and integration of marketing strategy with other functional strategies. Two hours of lecture per week.
Strategic planning theory and methods with an emphasis on customer, competitor, industry, and environmental analysis and its application to strategy development and choice. Three hours of lecture per week.
The majority of investments, consulting projects, and business challenges focus on industrial goods and services. Consequently, it is important to become familiar with industrial marketing and the unique issues one encounters when marketing to organizations rather than to households or individual consumers. This course allows you to experience the application and value of B2B concepts and techniques in a complex industrial marketing environment. You will learn to use "INDUSTRAT: The Strategic Industrial Marketing Simulation," a tool developed at INSEAD. Many top business schools and Fortune 500 corporations use INDUSTRAT for training and simulation of scenarios specific to their industry. Three hours of lecture per week.
The design and management of sales and distribution channels are critical components of business strategy and key elements in organizing and implementing marketing strategy. This course aims to introduce frameworks for effective design, implementation, and management of channel networks and systems. Issues discussed will include selection of types of channel intermediaries, number of tiers of resellers to be used, targeted intensity of market coverage, desired channel length and breadth, and the terms of contracts between channel members. Types of channel members discussed include wholesalers, dealers, distributors and retailers. The course also covers franchise systems, multiple and hybrid channel systems, direct sales channels, and the sales force. The design and management of international channels will also be covered. The course will be extremely useful for those intending to pursue a career in marketing or corporate strategy development. Three-and-a-half hours of lecture per week.
This course examines the role of systematic information gathering in providing sound decision guidance for managers. It helps students appreciate the potential contributions and limitations of market research data. Emphasis will be placed on both qualitative and quantitative aspects of marketing research and how they help managers in addressing substantive marketing problems such as: market segmentation, estimating market potential, forecasting market demand, developing advertising and pricing practices policies, and designing and positioning new products.
Introduction to political economy, the role of government in a mixed economy, business-government relations, the public policy process, regulation of business, corporate political activity and corporate governance. Compares United States corporate governance systems, public policies and political system to those of Western Europe and Japan. Three hours of lecture per week.
Prepares students to think of strategic business opportunities present in the need to conserve resources and solve environmental problems. Topics include market and nonmarket drivers of beyond compliance environmental strategy; management tools and system design technologies and concepts; and techniques for translating environmental factors into effective business strategies. Two hours of lecture per week.
An introduction to the economics of media and entertainment industries. Examines economic tools to understand some of the peculiarities of business that impact the nature of contracting, and the organization of firms and markets. Based on an understanding of the basic economic issues, the course will provide an overview of public policy issues and will explore diverse strategic responses. Three hours of lecture per week.
Identifies the management challenges facing international firms. Attention to business strategies, organizational structures, and the role of governments in the global environment. Special attention to the challenges of developing and implementing global new product development strategies when industrial structures and government policies differ. Efficacy of joint ventures and strategic alliances. Implications for industrial policy and global governance. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course focuses on the challenges, opportunities and risks of doing business in emerging market economies, with particular emphasis on China and India. The course is designed to enhance students' ability to start, manage, lead and invest in businesses operating in emerging markets. Emerging markets are home to nearly 80% of the world's population and are expected to account for nearly half of global GDP growth over the next 25 years. The course will analyze emerging markets from several different perspectives-the perspective of multinationals from advanced industrial countries seeking to grow and/or to reduce costs through operations in emerging markets; the perspective of local firms and indigenous entrepreneurs seeking to build world-class businesses; and the perspectives of policymakers in both developed and emerging market economies seeking to understand and respond to globalization. Three-and-a-half hours of lecture per week.
Intensive review of literature in the theory of land use, urban growth, and real estate market behavior; property rights and valuation; residential and nonresidential markets; construction; debt and equity financing; public controls and policies. Three hours of lecture and one hour of optional discussion per week.
The interaction of the private and public sectors in urban development; modeling the urban economy; growth and decline of urban areas; selected policy issues: housing, transportation, financing, local government, urban redevelopment and neighborhood change are examined. Three hours of lecture per week.
Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of real estate financial analysis, including elements of mortgage financing and taxation. The course will apply the standard tools of financial analysis to specialized real estate financing circumstances and real estate evaluation. Three hours of lecture and one hour of optional discussion per week.
Analysis of selected problems and special studies; cases in residential and non-residential development and financing, urban redevelopment, real estate taxation, mortgage market developments, equity investment, valuation, and zoning. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course considers the economics of urban housing and land markets from the viewpoints of investors, developers, public and private managers, and consumers. It considers the interactions between private action and public regulation--including land use policy, taxation, and government subsidy programs. We will also analyze the links between primary and secondary mortgage markets, securitization, and liquidity. Finally, the links between local housing and related markets--such as transportation and public finance--will be explored. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course gives students an overview of the main topics encompassed by management of technology. It includes the full chain of innovative activities beginning with R&D and extending through production and marketing. Why do many existing firms fail to incorporate new technology? What are the success factors at each stage of innovation? The course introduces students to Haas and College of Engineering faculty working in the relevant areas and student projects at leading high tech firms. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course is designed to examine the strategic issues that confront the management of the development-stage biotech company, i.e., after its startup via an initial capital infusion, but before it might be deemed successful (e.g., by virtue of a product launch), or otherwise has achieved "first-tier" status. The intention is to study the biotech organization during the process of its growth and maturation from an early-stage existence through "adolescence" into an "adult" company. Two hours of lecture per week.
Factors strongly impacting the success of new computing and communications products and services (based on underlying technologies such as electronics and software) in commercial applications. Technology trends and limits, economics, standardization, intellectual property, government policy, and industrial organization. Strategies to manage the design and marketing of successful products and services. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course is a study of product design, facilities design, and corporate identity design. It will cover how these design strategies are integral to product development and influence customer satisfaction, quality issues, manufacturing procedures, and marketing tactics. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course looks at who is winning or losing and why in international competition in high technology industries. It will emphasize the interaction between business strategies and the economic and political variables that shape the development and diffusion of new technologies. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course prepares students to found a startup business in China or to work with an MNC in China, develops their critical analysis and strategic decision tools and skills needed to compete in the world's most dynamic emerging market, and provides access and useful introductions/Guanxi to aid future business development in China. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course is designed to introduce students to the innovation process and its management. It provides an overview of technological change and links it to specific strategic challenges; examines the diverse elements of the innovation process and how they are managed; discusses the uneasy relationship between technology and the workforce; and examines challenges of managing innovation globally. Three hours of lecture per week.
An operationally focused course that aims to develop the interdisciplinary skills required for successful product development. Through readings, case studies, guest speakers, applied projects, and student research, students discover the basic tools, methods, and organizational structures used in new product development management. Course covers process phases: idea generation, product definition, product development, testing and refinement, manufacturing ramp-up and product launch. Three hours of lecture per week.
This course presents case studies of projects that required intervention to avert catastrophic failure. Students will discuss case studies and review real management problems of major corporations. They will create strategic plans to alleviate problems and learn how to manage a large project to a successful completion. Two hours of lecture per week.
The field of nanotechnology, at most ten years old, has emerged as an important new area for investment and business opportunity, and one that is already having an impact in many industries. Both established companies and young startups are developing businesses based on innovations in nanostructures and nano-scale developments in materials science, information technologies, and the life sciences. The course provides a comprehensive overview of the core elements in this emerging field, specifically the scientific and technical basis of nanotechnology, the emerging business opportunities, and the policy issues that represent both threats and opportunities to nanotechnology investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs. A central goal of the course is to improve understanding of how the confluence of technological innovation, market forces and venture finance drives new technology ventures. Two hours of lecture per week.
Most of the economic activity in developed economies is services-based. Yet most of our knowledge about innovation is based upon products, not services. This course addresses this gap in knowledge by examining services innovation, primarily within the IT context. It will also focus upon the business model in creating and managing innovation in services businesses. We will also consider how product-based businesses can-or cannot-transition to service-based businesses. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course, when combined with its follow-on course (Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Information Technology), is intended to be the "capstone" strategy and general management course for students interested in pursuing careers in the global information technology industry. Students will benefit the most from taking the two courses in sequence.
This course is an introduction to evaluating strategic options and their consequences, anticipating the perspectives of various industry players, and viewing the IT industry through the eyes of a general manager or CEO of an IT firm. Students will analyze the role of regulatory, technological, economic, and market forces in shaping the information technology industry structure, value chain, business and operating models, competitive strategy and dynamics, and barriers to entry. Special emphasis is placed on identifying new opportunities and understanding the challenges for startups and other new entrants. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course, when combined with its preceding course (The Future of Information Technology), is intended to be the "capstone" strategy and general management course for students interested in pursuing careers in the global information technology industry. Students will benefit the most from taking the two courses in sequence.
This course goes deeper into evaluating strategic options and their consequences, anticipating the perspectives of various industry players, and viewing the IT industry through the eyes of a general manager or CEO of an IT firm. Students will analyze the role of regulatory, technological, economic, and market forces in shaping the information technology industry structure, value chain, business and operating models, competitive strategy and dynamics, and barriers to entry. Special emphasis is placed on identifying new opportunities and understanding the challenges for startups and other new entrants. Two hours of lecture per week.
Most innovations fail. Yet companies that don't innovate die. Managing innovation thus constitutes one of the most difficult and critical tasks facing a manager. Nor is this solely the concern of high tech companies-companies in traditionally "low tech" businesses such as consumer packaged goods find that innovation translates directly into growth in new businesses, and better profits in existing businesses. The goal of the course is to identify the sources of innovative success and failure inside corporations, and how companies can develop and sustain a capability to innovate. The course addresses five main topics:
- Understanding disruptive technology, a theory of why great companies fail in managing certain types of technological change;
- how a successful business model is a barrier to change, as well as a source of advantage;
- how companies can overcome barriers to change and where they Look for new ideas-university research, military research, individual inventors, and corporate discovery processes;
- Alternative ways that companies have tried to escape the limits of their current business, including incubators, spin-offs, and corporate venture capital that attempt to sustain a company's success;
- Ways companies can experiment with their business model, limits on companies' abilities to do this, and how those might be overcome. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course is tailored to students pursuing an international career in economic development, international business, or entrepreneurship in developing regions. The course draws on economic development theory, business cases, and project evaluation techniques (finance, marketing) to provide a holistic view of the role of business and technology in sustainable economic development. Students will learn and apply conceptual frameworks and practical tools, utilizing examples from diverse economic sectors such as telecommunications, renewable energy, information technology, and agriculture. The course will review the role of technology and innovation in promoting economic development and as a source of competitive advantage for firms. The course is structured to evolve from a "macro" view of economic development (countries and regions) to a "micro" or business-level view (companies, markets, and projects). We will also discuss special topics such as microfinance, sustainability, clean energy, public-private partnerships, and the impact of globalization on international business. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course is concerned with business strategy for industries heavily involved with information and communications technology. Factors that are particularly important for such industries: economies of scale, network effects, switching costs, complementarities, intellectual property, standardization, government policy, and other strategic issues. The course will be of interest to students expecting to develop and market new computing and communications products and services in a multi-vendor environment, as well as those expecting to manage such organizations. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course is intended for students who wish to gain better understanding of one of the most important issues facing management today-designing, implementing, and managing telecommunication and distributed computer systems. The following topics are covered: a survey of networking technologies; the selection, design, and management of telecommunication systems; strategies for distributed data processing; office automation; and management of personal computers in organizations. Three hours of lecture per week.
Discusses the field strategic of CSR through a series of lectures, guest speakers, and projects. It will examine best practices used by companies to engage in socially responsible practices. It will provide students with a flavor of the complex dilemmas one can face in business in trying to do both "good for society" and "well for shareholders." It looks at CSR from a corporate strategy perspective and how it supports core business objectives, core competencies, and bottom-line profits. Three hours of lecture per week.
Effective management in business now takes into account a wide range of criteria relating to the financial, environmental, and social implications of business operations. Research indicates that a strategic commitment to sustainability has clear implications for the corporate bottom line. This course exposes students to the complex field of corporate and product specific sustainability measures, exploring metrics in all three legs of the sustainability stool (financial, environmental and social). In projects with real companies, students will help their clients answer sustainable metric challenges, such as: carbon accounting; measuring socially responsible investing; and measuring the sustainability of suppliers. Students will emerge ready to develop and implement strategic sustainability metric programs as a viable and necessary business strategy. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course will explore the spectrum of activity in the growing social enterprise arena, where business models and market-driven approaches s are increasingly being used to create both social and economic benefits to society. Topics covered will include social entrepreneurship using for-profit, nonprofit, hybrid, and cross-sector models; investor and capital formation issues; international development and globalization; technology and innovation; and microfinance as a case study in social enterprise. Three hours of lecture per week.
Once considered an aside in the investment world, social investing has begun to attract significant attention from academics. Some of the issues raised by social investors bring fresh light to controversies in investment and management theory. Moreover, concerns over globalization and climate change have challenged the widely-held view that social and environmental concerns must be subordinated to financial ones in capital allocation decisions. This course will review eight strong recent studies of issues in social investing from different academic fields including management, finance, and economics.
This course is intended to provide the core skills needed for the identification of opportunities that can lead to successful, entrepreneurial high technology ventures, regardless of the individual's "home" skill set, whether technical or managerial. We examine in depth the approaches most likely to succeed for entrepreneurial companies as a function of markets and technologies. Emphasis is placed on the special requirements for creating and executing strategy in a setting of rapid technological change and limited resources. This course is particularly suited for those who anticipate founding or operating technology companies. Three hours of lecture per week.
This workshop is intended for students who have their own experimental venture project under development. The business concept may be in the startup mode, or further along in its evolution. The pedagogy is one of "guided" entrepreneurship where students, often working in teams, undertake the real challenges of building a venture. Students must be willing to discuss their project with others in the workshop as group deliberation of the entrepreneurial challenges is a key component of the class. Two hours of lecture per week.
Most entrepreneurial venture business models evolve through periods of experimentation. Understanding the components of an integrated business model, how to characterize and analyze the competitive aspects of business models and how to efficiently construct and test business models are critical skills for entrepreneurs, whether they are launching a startup or trying to build a new venture from inside a larger company. Our objective is to provide students with the skills and knowledge to rapidly identify, assess, shape and – when necessary – change business models to their advantage in constructing enterprises of scale. The course will examine the elements of business models and explore how they differ across industries and phases of a firm's growth – from high-tech to social ventures and from the earliest startup phases through realization of significant value. Two hours of lecture per week.
This is a course about financing new entrepreneurial ventures, emphasizing those that have the possibility of creating a national or international impact or both. It will take two perspectives-the entrepreneur's and the investor's-and it will place a special focus on the venture capital process, including how they are formed and managed, accessing the public markets, mergers, and strategic alliances. Three hours of lecture per week.
Social Sector Solutions, or S-cubed, is a partnership between the Haas School of Business, the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership, McKinsey & Company, and select nonprofit clients. Students enroll in a 3-unit class in which they work in teams, coached by a McKinsey consultant, to help nonprofit clients succeed in entrepreneurial ventures and are introduced firsthand to professional consulting and the nonprofit sector. Three-and-a-half hours of lecture per week.
As the intensity and complexity of social and environmental problems has grown in recent years, social entrepreneurship has become increasingly prominent. While virtually all enterprises, commercial and social, generate social value, the primary focus of social entrepreneurship is to achieve social impact above all else. Even when organizations manage to overcome the many obstacles to growth, and achieve appreciable scale, this approach is seldom sufficient to achieve significant social impact on its own. This course explores how to utilize social entrepreneurship to generate social impact as efficiently, effectively, and sustainably as possible through two primary means:
- Through organizational level growth and innovation
- Through network approaches which require the mobilization of a vast array of actors and resources, but have the potential to generate rapid and sustained social impact. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course systematically addresses system-wide, organization-wide, group-level, and individual-level issues in strategy formulation, content, implementation, and performance of health services organizations. It considers internal and external factors that affect organizational performance. Emphasis is on the development and implementation of strategies to meet stakeholders' demands, and total quality management approaches. This course covers a wide variety of health care organizations including providers, plans, systems, suppliers, pharmaceuticals, and biotechs. Three hours of lecture per week.
The purpose of this course is to provide students with insights into the newest innovations in healthcare service delivery, information technology, and medical devices. Through presentations by leading entrepreneurs in the field, students will be challenged to make investment decisions in those firms with the greatest promise. By the end of the course, students will:
- Understand how to foster an innovation culture;
- Have insights into current innovations in medical devices, information technology, and service delivery;
- Be able to analyze risks and opportunities in these healthcare areas;
- Know how to apply criteria for investing. Two hours of lecture per week.
This course will focus on understanding the opportunities and challenges of developing and commercializing products manufactured by health care producers. The emphasis will be on the intersection of development and commercialization; key considerations that separate successful products; and the generation of value for patients, providers, and manufacturers in an environment of high uncertainty, competitive pressures, and the legal and regulatory environment. The course will also discuss aspects of the US healthcare value chain and how that determines commercial strategies. Two hours of lecture per week.
The purpose of this course is to provide a systematic overview of the US health services system by
- providing students with an understanding of the structure, financing, and special properties of health services delivery
- applying social science theory, disciplinary contributions, and research findings to the understanding of significant problems of health services delivery
- analyzing current sources of data about health status, health services use, financing, and indicators of the performance of the health delivery system
- building a higher level of expertise about one health-related organization
- identifying and analyzing the larger management and policy issues that drive efforts to reform the health services system.
This class is required for the joint MBA/MPH degree and the Certificate in Health Management. It prepares students to take more advanced course work in the strategic management of health services, healthcare finance, and health policy analysis. Three hours of lecture per week.
See the Course Schedule for full listings.
Thaili Chi
MBA 10
MBA 10
Global Equities Intern – Corporate Governance
CalPERS
Sacramento, California
"It was great to take my first real estate elective at the end of my first year. It provided a coherent framework for understanding… every step of the real estate investment process."
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